Parallel Motion Cancelling Machine, c. 1850s

Accession number: 2002-0941

This is an example of a parallel motion canceller. It was the earliest of a simpler, hand-operated range of cancelling machine. These were developed by Pearson Hill after the treadle-operated variety.

Although this is an original example, it was refurbished by Royal Mail Research and Development in 1992.

Letters were placed directly under the machine. The operator would push down the handle which would apply the inked impression over the stamp.

While a step towards mechanisation these were still very much reliant on manual operation. They did, however, greatly speed the cancellation of stamps.

Later versions of the machine sped up the process further. A similar mechanism is seen today with self-inking date stamps.